Tony Fouhse
From Lifelounge's Dirty Edition (which you really should have read by now).
Tony Fouhse has been photographing crack addicts on the same corner of
an Ottowa street for over a year and has been met with a strong sense
of cooperation and acceptance. Despite stereotyped views of addicts,
they have been tolerant, kind and honest with Fouhse, while his
detractors are so-called ‘fine up-standing citizens’. “Some say I’m
working with the enemy. They say I’m taking something dirty and making
it beautiful. They say the addicts on the corner should be swept away.
Of course where they go and how they’ll be treated is left unsaid.”
Fouhse’s
portraits are all at once heartbreaking and hopeful, ugly and
beautiful, simple but complex and insightful. He captures his subjects
in a sensitive and raw way that shows an entirely different aspect of
the dark world of addiction. He shows the people.
Fouhse says,
“The casual passerby will see ugliness and conflict and degradation on
that corner. But there are other emotions and dynamics to be seen
there, too. I see a community and fellowship, I see street mothers
looking after the young women. I see one kind of pain being replaced
with another kind of pain. One that is somehow - we can’t even begin to
imagine - more acceptable to the addict. I see creativity, friendship
and humanity. I see humans.”
More at tonyfoto.com.
Tags: Photography, Street Art
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